Marking gage for rules



Sept- 18, 1956 A. c. LEIDAHL 2,763,065

MARKING GAGE F'OR RULES Filed Aug. 12, 1952 ri E- 35,: )gro 2f 42 25??? 43 Z932 24\ 3f .4| 45 i E: 4: Bnventor 4G 39 AUBERT C. LEIDAHL 40v7 35 {Q B l g MMD/ United States Patent O MARKING GAGE FOR RULES Aubert C. Leidahl, Ozone Park, N. Y.

. Application August 12, 1952, Serial No. 303,891

9 Claims. (Cl. 33-173) The present invention relates to a gage applicable to carpenters rules and other rules for use in making gage marks on boards or the like, parallel to edges of said boards. The gage is of particular value in making marks on the surfaces of boards such as composition boards which are in extensive use in building construction and are wide with straight edges.

At present it is a general practice for a carpenter to grasp a rule by a hand at the desired graduation and move the hand along a straight edge of the board, while at the same time holding a pencil at the end of the rule thus making a mark on the surface of the board parallel to its edge. This mark may be used as a guide in sawing or otherwise separating the parts.

The hand holding the rule is likely to slip along the rule thus causing the drawn line to deviate from parallelism with the edge of the board along which said hand is moved.

It is therefore an important object of the invention to provide a novel and advantageous gage for the purpose specified. This gage must be adapted for positioning at different positions along a rule.

Another object of the invention is to provide a gage which can be applied directly to a rule at any point along its length.

Still another object of the invention is to provide a gage which is adjustable to tit rules of different thickness or to t dierent parts of the same rule which are of different thickness due to overlapping of adjacent ends of said parts.

A further object of the invention is to provide a gage of the character specified which can readily be secured on or removed from a rule.

Further objects, features and advantages will appear upon consideration of the following detailed description and the drawings in which:

Fig. 1 is a perspective View illustrating an approved embodiment of the invention in use for drawing a line parallel to an edge of a board.

Fig. 2 is a section taken along the line 2 2 of` Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a top planview of a part of Fig. l;

Fig. 4 is a section taken along the line 4 4 of Fig. 2; and

Fig. 5 is a view similar to Fig. 4 but with the gage in unlatched condition for application to or removal from a rule.

A gage 16 embodying one form of the invention is illustrated as mounted on a carpenters rule 11. Said rule 11 is one of a type in which the rule is composed of at sections 12 connected together at adjacent ends by pivots 13 perpendicular to the planes of said sections. When such sections are folded together they extend back and forth one above another to form a compact assembly.

As illustrated said gage 11 which is preferably of sheet metal, comprises a base portion 14 in the general form of a channel or trough with a bottom 15 to engage one face of a rule 11 and sides 16 and 17 to engage opposite ice edges of the rule. Part of said bottom 15 of channel 14 is placed on a board 18 on which a line is to be marked parallel to a straight edge 19 of the board.

Said channel 14 is positioned perpendicular to the edge 18 of board 17 and the distance to which it extends over the board 18 is determined by a tongue or stop 20 projecting downwardly from said bottom 15 of the channel 14. Said tongue or stop 20 might be at the inner end of an open slot in the bottom 15, but as indicated in Figure 2 it is made by stamping, as by cutting around three sides of a selected area and bending down the metal along a line constituting the fourth side to form said stop 20.

At the right of stop 20 (Figs. 2 and 3) the height of the walls 16 and 17 is unimportant as long as they are high enough to guide the rule 11. However the portions of walls 16 to 17 to the left of board edge 19 (Figs. 2 and 3) are preferably made higher to enable provisions to be made for fixing the gage 10 to the rule 11 in selected positions and also to provide edges 21 in the plane of the gaging face of stop 20, to provide a gage line for use in positioning the rule 11 in said gage 10.

Cover means or a cover is mounted on the channel so that it is movable from a position across the channel and away therefrom to open the same for lateral insertion of a rule into the channel. To the left of gaging edge 21 (Fig. 3) the high part of wall 16 is provided with two intermediate cutouts 22 leaving three parts or tongues 23 which are turned inwardly and downwardly to en close a hinge pin 24 at said parts, leaving free portions of said hinge pins to be enclosed by downturned lugs 25 or lingers extending from the corresponding edge of a cover 26 in the form of an isosceles trapezoid having its broad base 27 at the wall 16 and its parallel edge or top 28 arranged to be secured in position over the upper edge of wall 17. At said edge 28 there is a central cutout 29 leaving two tongues 30 turned around a hinge pin 31. In said central cutout said hinge pin 31 is enclosed by a tongue 32 extending from the adjacent or upper edge of a latch or latch member 33 which at its lower end is provided with a resilient hook 34 to engage a bulge or keeper 35 projecting downwardly from said bottom 15. It should be noted that wall 17 is provided with a cutout 36 (Fig. 3) large enough to accommodate the pin 31 and the tongues 30 and 32.

The gage 10 is intended to be clamped to ruler 11 by pressing said ruler against the bottom 15 of the gage. Obviously the clamping means must be adjustable for use at points where only the thickness of a single section of a folding rule is involved and for use at joints in the rule Where the thickness of two superimposed sections is at least double the thickness of one section.

According to the illustrated embodiment of the invenof the gage 10 is pressed against said bottom by a suitable tion the part of the rule 11 engaging the bottom 15 clamp carried by the cover such as a presser member or washer 40 rotatably mounted on the lower end of a screw 41 which may be turned by a knurled head 42 on its upper end. Said screw 41 passes through and has a screw thread connection with cover 26 by means of an internally-threaded upward projection 43 of the cover through which said screw 41 ts. Said upward projection 43 may be a nut secured in position at the outer face of said cover 26. The lower end of said screw is provided with a downwardly facing shoulder 45 and a reduced portion 46 of the shank of said screw beneath said shoulder passes loosely through a corresponding bore 47 in the upper part of presser member 40 and is provided with an enlarged lower end 48 fitting loosely into a recess 49 at the lower end of said bore to hold the presser member 40 on the screw 41 while permitting relative turning therebetween. The various parts are so arranged that there is a deiinite clearance between said enlarged lower end 48 and the rule when the gage 10 is secured on said rule.

As illustrated in the drawings, the gage is applied to the rule 11 at a position for drawing a` line 50 on the upper face of board 18 parallel to edge 1.9 and at sixteen inches therefrom. With the latch 33 released and the cover 26 swung away from the channel 14 the rule is placed in the channel 14 and against the bottom thereof and the 16 graduation on the rule is aligned with gaging edges 21 of said gage 10. The right hand face of stop 20 (Fig. 3) is then sixteen inches from the right hand end of rule 11. The cover 26 is closed and latched in that position by latch 33 (Fig. 4). The final clamping of the gage 10 on the rule 11 is etected by turning -the knurled head 42 of screw 41 in the proper direction until the presser 40 clamps the rule 11 against the bottom 15 of the channel 15.

The gage 10 is placed on the board 18 with stop 20 engaging edge 19 and the sixteen inch end of the rule protecting over the upper surface of the board 18. A pencil 51 is placed against the end of the rule and held there with one hand and the gage moved along the edge 19 of the board with the other hand, thus producing said line 50. The sixteen inch edge portion thus marked off may be separated from the remainder of board 18 by a saw or other suitable means.

An important advantage of the gage of the present invention is that it can be applied directly to the rule at any point along its length. Another important advantage of said gage is that it can be clamped over a single thickness of the rule or over a double thickness where the ends of two adjacent sections 12 of the rule overlap.

A further important advantage of said gage is that it holds the rule above the board on which the gage is used and avoids wear of the rule and removal of the graduation from the lower surface thereof.

It should be understood that various changes can be made and that various features may be used without others, without departing from the true scope and spirit of the invention.

What is claimed is: y

l. A gage for use with a carpenters folding rule having graduations thereon and comprising flat units with overlapping ends connected by pivots perpendicular to said at units, said gage comprising a channel having a bottom and sides spaced to enable said rule to be moved downwardly therebetween while acting to position a portion of said rule in alignment with said channel, a channel-positioning stop extending downwardly from said bottom, gage indications on the sides of said channel for alignment with graduations on said rule, said gage indications being in the plane of one face of said stop, cover means mounted on the channel for movement across the open channel and away therefrom to open the same, and clamping means carried by said cover means extending into the channel to clamp said gage to said rule.

2. A gage according to claim 1 wherein portions of said sides project above other portions and present edges serving as said gage indicators, and said clamping means comprising a cover for said channel, a hinge connecting one edge of said cover to one of said walls, and a latch 4, at the opposite edge of said cover to connect that edge to the corresponding side of said channel.

3. A gage according to claim 2 wherein said clamping means also comprises a set screw having a screw thread connection with said cover and a presser member mounted on the end of said screw for rotation about said screw.

4. The combination of a' carpenters folding rule comprising at units having graduations thereon and with overlapping ends connected by pivots perpendicular thereto, with a sheet metal gage comprising a trough having a bottom for engagement by at faces of said units and sides cooperating with the edges of said units to maintain the rule in alignment with said trough, gage indications on the sides of said trough to cooperate with graduations on said rule in positioning the gage on the rule, a downwardly-extending trough-positioning stop projecting downwardly from the bottomv of said trough ina position corresponding tothe positions of said gage indications, cover means mounted on the trough for movement across the open trough and away therefrom to open the same, and clamping means carried by the cover means and extending into the trough for clamping said gage to said rule.

5. The combination according to claim 4 wherein the sides of the trough are higher at one side of said gage indications, said gage indications are straight edges of said higher parts and the clamping means comprises a cover hinged at one edge to the high portion of one of said sides and a latch to hold the opposite edge of the cover down at the opposite side of said channel.

6. The combination according to claim 5 wherein the clamping means also includes a set screw having a threaded connection with said cover and serving to press the rule against the bottom of the channel.

7. The combination accordingto claim 6 wherein said latch is hinged at one end to said opposite edge of the cover and has at its other end a spring hook to engage the bottom of said channel.

8. The combination according to claim 7 wherein said bottom of the channel has a downward projection to cooperate with said hook.

9. A gage for use with a carpenters folding rule, said gage` comprising a body adapted to be placed directly on said rule at any position therealong, means comprising a spring hook for clamping said gage to said rule, indi- Y cations onV said gage for comparison with graduations on said rule, and a gaging stop projecting downwardly from the bottom of said body.

References Cited in the le of this-patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 170,371 Hoddinott Nov. 23, 1875 716,150 Traut Dec. 16, 1902 740,212 Anderson Sept. 29, 1903 848,387 Nielsen Mar. 26, 1907 1,103,172 Brul:Y July 14, 1914 1,438,234 Hart Dec. 12, 1922 1,596,293 Neil Aug. 17, 1926 1,599,852 Thomas Sept. 14, 1926 2,007,329 Flesselles July 9, 1935 2,256,676. Inerson Sept. 23, 1941 2,591,333 Bellmer Apr. 1, 1952 

